THE lawyers’ movement to restore former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry had both its positive and negative effects. On the negative side, it bolstered the courage of the lawyers’ community for all the wrong reasons.

Some lawyers in Lahore locked up the courtroom of the additional district and sessions judge. Chaudhry Farrukh Hussain, when he declined bail in the case of cheque fraud by a businessman.

As the cheque amount of Rs35 million was huge enough, the businessman might have paid hefty fees to his lawyers to get him off the hook. Obviously, the businessman at the time of issuing the cheque must have known if it would be cashed or not.

To protect such a fraudulent person was unethical in the first place. It is, however, not the first time when the lawyers stormed the court and booed the judge. It has happened often, which is a clear sign of disregard for the law and that too by the lawyers’ community. It is shameful.

Had such an act of vandalism taken place in Norway, the lawyers would have been sent to the tundra region for a few years.

Dr A. P. Sangdil

Oslo, Norway

Published in Dawn March 3rd , 2015

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